​For those who like to look at the calendar for such things, today is the 78th  anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944.  I thought it would therefore be especially appropriate to post this video.  It's the wonderful theme to the movie, The Longest Day, sung and performed most appropriately by the Cadet Glee Club of West Point, along with military band.
 
I first posted this video seven years ago in 2017.  It’s my favorite one on the subject – not just for the performance, but for how movingly the video is edited.  It's particularly well-done, beginning with a minute of General Dwight Eisenhower's message to the troops before the invasion began, and interspersed with some excellent photos and archival film from the day, amid the soaring music.
 
By the way, the timpani you hear before the song begins is not only recognizable as the beginning of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, but more to the point, it's the Morse Code for “V” for Victory.
 
Also, in case you weren't aware, the main theme for The Longest Day, used throughout the film not just in the end titles, was written by pop-star heartthrob at the time, Paul Anka.

On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is Dan Snow, a historian who was a part of the expedition that only weeks ago at last found Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which had been lost in the Antarctic Sea in 1915.  His enthusiasm for the 100-person expedition is almost overwhelming, as he explains how they were able to finally find the lost ship after 102 years.  And he has equal enthusiasm (as do the British people) for Shackleton who he says was a monumental failure, going on four expeditions, none of which succeeded – Snow’s point being that it’s easy to be a hero when you succeed, such people are amazing, he says, but “Shackleton? He messed up!  It all went wrong, all the time.  And when it went wrong, he showed greatness.  He showed toughness and spirit, he showed compassion, and that’s why we love him in the U.K.”
 
This the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 18:20 mark.

The other day, there was a fascinating news story that got little attention, though I think it deserved a lot more.
 
A group of historians have been doing a series of books on recent presidents.  They were preparing the one on Trump, when he found out about it and offered to talk to them all (by Zoom).  And the story that The Atlantic wrote about (with a summary on Raw Story) included the nugget that Trump acknowledged losing the election!

Yes, really.
 
No disclaimer, no instance that he really won, just – “…but when I didn’t win the election…”.  Later in the hour-long interview he does mention the election being rigged and losing, but earlier, about 10 minutes in, there is nothing about it being rigged.  Just flat out, “but when I didn’t win the election,” seemingly forgetting to throw in his lie and letting the truth slip out by mistake.
 
And it’s on video.
 
As some legal experts have noted, this admission could come back to hurt Trump badly in court, acknowledging that he knows he lost.  What’s important, too, is the timing of it all.  As a news story, the implication is that this is breaking news that just happened – so the past year of saying otherwise, that he really supposedly won might offset his admission in court, and not have any impact on those around him repeating the story.  And the Raw Story article supports this by not saying anything about the date of the interview.
 
But when reading the original, detailed article in The Atlantic, they say that the interview was done…last summer!  So, perhaps nine months ago Trump was admitting that “I didn’t win the election.”  Committing fraud, lying to his followers.  But it’s actually worse than even that.
 
The article in The Atlantic refers to an article that the New York Times wrote about the interview when it took place.  And I clicked on the link to check out when that story was published.  And…it was in March, 2021 -- a year ago!  Which means for the past full year Trump has known and said – on tape – that he lost.  And has been lying about what he knows ever since, trying rile up his crowds and minions and lawyers and Republican state houses with what he knew was a lie. 
 
(It also means that this interview with the historians was not a secret, hidden away until now.  It didn’t cover all that was said in the interview, including this quote, but the interview was very public.)
 
You can read The Atlantic article by clicking here -- but better still…they’ve posted the entire video of the interview.  Which includes, of course, Trump admitting on camera that “I didn’t win the election.”
 
I didn’t watch much of the hour, it’s very painful, but clicked to various parts – and almost every time, Trump is just continually trying to “correct” the record and rewrite history about how everything he did was great and everyone was working against him.  It’s a psychiatrist’s dream.  The article itself largely addresses this – it’s written by the editor of the book, John Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton, who points out (among many other things) that Trump clearly had no idea of historians work.

​I like The Rachel Maddow Show.  A lot.  But I always record it and wait about 20 minutes or so before I start watching – mainly so that I can fast-forward through her 10-15 minute opening history lesson which only has a tangential connection to the news story it’s leading to, usually one that (while interesting) shouldn’t necessarily be the lead story.
 
To be clear, I like that she gives history for perspective to the news.  It’s not only often valuable, but can be important, as well.  The problem is that I occasionally know the history, and also it can usually be told in a lot less time than she uses – which is important because an hour-long TV show only has about 44 minutes of content.
 
(I also will fast-forward through her endless repetitions of a point.  Mind you, as readers of these pages know, I like to use repetitions.  They’re a very good thing.  But generally not four or five of them.  And when I do use that many, it’s for dramatic structure, building to a point, not to Make Sure You Got What I Just Said.)
 
But mainly, it’s the history lessons at the start of the show, that for some reason she seems to think that if there’s a history tale behind it then that adds enough gravitas to make it the day’s lead story.  Occasionally it should be the lead story – but not because of the history.  Because of its meaning for the day, impacting people’s lives the most.  And usually, it shouldn’t be the lead story.  Just one for later in the show.
 
And so, in today's world with democracy at risk – indeed the day after The Rachel Maddow Show spent two-thirds of its broadcast on that very subject, based on an in-depth article in The Atlantic --  I could only shake my head when The Rachel Maddow Show spent, no, not the first 10 or even 15 minutes to History, but -- the first 20 minutes of their 44 minutes doing a history story about…about removing a statue.
 
It was a valuable story. The statue was of the first leader of the Ku Klux Klan.  And it was interesting.  (At least what I saw of it when I’d pause the fast-forwarding.)  But it could have been done in six minutes. It should have been done in six minutes.  And it should not have been done as the Lead Story of the Day.
 
After all, yesterday was the day President Biden had a video meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, brought about by a build-up of Russian troops on the Ukraine border.  Rachel Maddow did get to that, happily.  Eventually.  Well into the show.
 
And by the way, yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. One would think that if you’re going to do a history lesson, that would be a really good one to delve into.  Not necessarily as The Lead, though it could be since its historical impact on American and world society was profound.  Alas, she didn’t even mention it.  That's right, Rachel Maddow -- history maven -- did not mention the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Because – after using up 20 minutes on removing a statue – there wasn’t time.
 
(Fun Fact:  Even ESPN found time to mention the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor on their one-hour SportsCenter show of game highlights.  And did a very good filmed piece on it, and the event's overlap with athletes involved.)

Oh, and there also was zero mention on the Maddow show of the egregious far-right "election fraud investigation" in Wisconsin that finally issued its findings – and said that they found absolutely no widespread voter fraud.  A major story for its impact on America today – a story, in fact, that the show has been covering.  A lot.  Just not the results.  Because there wasn't time to talk about it.  They were too busy dealing with the…y’know, the history over the removal of a statue.
 
I like The Rachel Maddow Show.  A lot.  But I do record it so that I can fast-forward.
 
The problem is that even though I’ve figured out a way to deal with the interminable history lessons, that’s not good enough.  Rachel Maddow has a very important platform on MSNBC – indeed, in the world of news.  And to waste so much of it on overly-detailed history lessons as The Lead Story when you have such limited time is, to me, irresponsible.
 
And I love history.  It was my minor in college, and it’s one of my favorite things to read.  I’ve read the entire 11-volume set of Will and Ariel Durant’s Story of Civilization.  And I like very much that Rachel Maddow gives history lessons.
 
But not how she does it.  That’s a waste of precious time, most especially in an era when there is not as much time to waste as one would wish.

​For those who like to look at the calendar for such things, today is the 77th  anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944.  I thought it would therefore be especially appropriate to post this video.  It's the wonderful theme to the movie, The Longest Day, sung and performed most appropriately by the Cadet Glee Club of West Point, along with military band.
 
I first posted this video five years ago in 2017.  It’s my favorite one on the subject – not just for the performance, but for how movingly the video is edited.  It's particularly well-done, beginning with a minute of General Dwight Eisenhower's message to the troops before the invasion began, and interspersed with some excellent photos and archival film from the day, amid the soaring music.
 
By the way, the timpani you hear before the song begins is not only recognizable as the beginning of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, but more to the point, it's the Morse Code for “V” for Victory.
 
Also, in case you weren't aware, the main theme for The Longest Day, used throughout the film not just in the end titles, was written by pop-star heartthrob at the time, Paul Anka.